


new forevers.

by falconeggs



Series: open secrets. [2]
Category: Schitt's Creek
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Time Skips, blusbands (blood husbands), eternal marriage, vampire shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-21
Updated: 2020-02-21
Packaged: 2021-02-27 22:53:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 17,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22833589
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/falconeggs/pseuds/falconeggs
Summary: “Patrick wakes. He has no idea how long he was out, or where, exactly, he is, but he knows he’s awake.”Or, the second life of a young vampire.
Relationships: Johnny Rose/Moira Rose, Patrick Brewer/David Rose, Theodore “Ted” Mullens/Alexis Rose (mentioned)
Series: open secrets. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1558165
Comments: 21
Kudos: 146





	new forevers.

**Author's Note:**

> you all asked for it, so here it is! this is very much a prequel/sequel type deal, where half is about patrick and his adjustment to his change, and the other half is about david through history. if you haven’t read small town rumors, i suggest you make a pit stop there, first. this addition to the series has some violence in it, as they’re vampires, and are inherently violent, so if you don’t like blood or beheadings, i’m sorry. as an extra little note before we start, the names ‘alexis’ and ‘moira’ weren’t in use at the time of the roses first life, so in the flashback parts, they’re called ‘alexandra’ and ‘moriah’. i didn’t think i needed to put this here, but i want to make sure everyone is all clear on everything. i hope you enjoy! if you wanna hang or chat or cry, i’m @focksii on tumblr. love ya!

Three of the village people turned up dead, all in the same way: wounds on the neck, and drained of all of their blood. The townsfolk had many theories, from dangerous animals lurking around the town, to monsters from fairy tales. Regardless, the people were afraid, and the Lord regent of their lands didn’t care, leaving the townsfolk to their fears. Being the wealthiest family in their region, the Roses felt it their obligation to protect the people, if for no other reason than not facing their wrath, eventually. They opened their estate to those that feared what was attacking the people. The villagers flocked to them, with half the town bunking in their great hall on the very first night. Strangers from all corners of the region took solace in their home, from farmers, to merchants, to weary travelers. 

None were as eye-catching as the dark-skinned, accented man in beautiful, exotic clothing, who was just passing through, and claimed to have seen all parts of the world. The traveler cozied up to David and Alexandra with not much more than a smile and a story. He attempted to charm their parents, but John and Moriah weren’t as instantaneously swayed. Still, the traveler, Narseh, was allowed to stay in their lavish home, until the threat was over and everyone felt safe enough to go home. Narseh sat at the family’s large table during meals, a show of respect extended to him by the children. Though he had no gifts to offer, nor countrymen to follow him, Narseh held an air of superiority and finery that was kept only by noblemen, and that was enough for the Roses to keep his company.

With the hold at capacity, John thought it prudent to offer a banquet for everyone taking shelter far from whatever beast was causing mayhem in the township. He thought a distraction from fear with wine and food would be welcome. Little did he know that the very beast the people feared sat at the head of the room with the wealthy family. No one suspected charming Narseh, who stumbled into the village just in time for the town’s greatest tragedy to date. He offered comforting words to grieving families, even suggesting that a few brave protectors go find the beast that slaughtered their neighbors. He kept the Roses’ goblets full with sweet, thick wine, and enthralled them with grand stories, all to stay with them for as long as he could. He was amused by their bickering, and enjoyed their lavish lifestyle. 

Both Alexandra and David fawned over their esteemed, mysterious guest, but it was David that enthralled Narseh the most. Narseh loved the way David’s heart would race when they would lock eyes. David followed Narseh around like a puppy, offering him anything he may have desired. It was in his hopeless following that David discovered the truth. He trailed after Narseh into the forest near the family’s home, and watched in horror as Narseh ripped the throat out of the local shoemaker with his teeth, draining the shoemaker of his blood. 

Narseh turned his bloodied face to David and knew he had been caught. In a flash, Narseh was an inch from David, cupping his cheek and grasping his waist. Never before had David been so afraid, his heart dancing to a fevered beat. He cried out as Narseh yanked his head to the side and sunk his sharp teeth into his pulsing neck. 

  
  
-

Patrick wakes. He has no idea how long he was out, or where, exactly, he is, but he knows he’s awake. This black silence is different from the black silence of a few moments ago. His eyes can’t open, and his lungs can’t take in a breath, but he doesn’t need it. His body doesn’t scream for air, his mind doesn’t fog with a lack of oxygen. He’s okay. He’s a lot more than okay, now. In fact, he’s sharper than ever. He feels David’s arm around his middle, his chest pressed against Patrick’s back, a comforting weight, compared to the discomfort of all the other weight.

“Are you awake?” David whispers, right into his ear. It’s a soft puff of air, but it’s loud to Patrick. 

Patrick nods the best he can, but it’s hard. The soil piled around them really constricts his movements. David is slightly more practiced at the art of being buried; he kisses Patrick softly on the jawbone, then sits them both up, forcing them through a few feet of earth to the surface.

Patrick shakes himself out, trying to get as much dirt out of his orifices. His nose unplugs, and the dirt smells so strong, like minerals and growth. The crickets in the field around him are nearly deafening, and he can hear their every movement in the wet grass. Songs overlap on top of movies and shows, way in the distance, probably from their town at the end of the road. The wind picks up and rustles the trees behind them, which has Patrick’s eyes drifting upwards. Past the tiny bugs he’s never seen before, and past the tall treetops, and past everything else is the night sky. The stars are brilliant and shining, and there are far more than he imagined. He can see the imprint of his galaxy against the night sky, extending an eternal reach. It dazzles so beautifully that it steals Patrick’s needless breath. 

The world has never looked so beautiful. The moon and the stars illuminate the tiny beadlettes of water, collected on the grass and trees, sparkling in the night. The way the branches in the trees sway against the gentle breeze is more entrancing than Patrick could remember it being. 

“Patrick,” David whispers, beside him. Patrick’s eyes fall on David for the first time since they reopened, and who could possibly care about trees and grass when David is right there?

David was the most beautiful thing Patrick had ever seen before they went to ground. Now, every detail of David’s face that Patrick had memorized is enhanced and glowing against the night. His eyes are deeper, and his skin is smoother, and his hair is more perfect than Patrick could’ve ever noticed before, though he did notice all of those things about David. He’s so beautiful, Patrick can’t believe his eyes.

“Wow,” Patrick breathes, his eyes wandering over David. He’s dirty, and Patrick knows that David hates that, but he is, by far, the most wonderful thing Patrick’s ever seen. 

“Are you okay?” David asks, his voice softer than the crickets’ song. 

The question baffles Patrick. ‘Okay’ doesn’t begin to cover how he feels right now. He’s better than he’s ever felt. Never before has he felt more aware, more alive, which is interesting, considering he no longer has a heartbeat. Patrick nods with a small, dazzled smile. He reaches up and brushes some dirt off of his husband’s cheek, relishing the scratch of David’s stubble against his sensitive fingertips. David smiles right back at Patrick, reaching up to cup both of Patrick’s cheeks to sweep him in for a soft kiss.

He remembers the first time David ever kissed him, in his car, just on the other side of the motel, nearly ten years ago. Patrick had never known what a kiss was supposed to feel like until David’s lips were on his. Now, he feels the same way, like a new man to be found in David’s lips. They’re even softer than Patrick felt before, and warmer than ever. He can feel every line and ridge in David’s lips, and how perfectly they fit against the lines and ridges on his own set. He loses himself in the kiss, relishing in the most wonderful feeling Patrick has ever felt. 

Patrick isn’t sure how long it takes for David to pull away from him. He stands quickly, pulling himself from the ground, then holds a hand out for Patrick. Without hesitation, Patrick takes David’s hand and is hoisted from his shallow grave. As soon as he’s on his feet, Patrick is being dragged through the field and to the tree line. 

“Where are we going?” He asks, and his voice is loud and strange in his own ears. 

David grins out of one side of his mouth, slotting their fingers together. “You need to learn to hunt,” he says, cheekily. “You think you can keep up?”

Patrick can feel a wide grin take over his face as he watches David. He doesn’t want to look away from him. “Only one way to find out,” he says. 

David lets out a laugh that rings in Patrick’s chest, then starts to run. As soon as their fingers are dislodged, Patrick misses them. “C’mon!” Patrick hears David call, and doesn’t need more than that. He runs after David, faster than any car he’s ever been in, and catches up quickly. He slices through the air in a way he’s never felt on his face. He doesn’t really feel his feet hitting the ground. It feels like flying. 

“Alright, college baseball team,” David teases him fondly. His eyes glance upwards, and he takes Patrick by the hand. “This way.” He adjusts them slightly and helps Patrick navigate through the trees. 

“Where are we going?” Patrick asks, exhilarated by the speed in which they’re moving. He quickly gets a hang of dodging trees, darting around them. Though he moves past the trees quickly, he can still see how beautiful the forest is in the night. 

“As far as we can, until you need to stop,” David says, very casually for moving so quickly. Patrick realizes that this could never wind David, and it’ll never wind him, either. 

He lets out a laugh. “We’ll be running a long time,” he grins. “I’ll never get tired of this.” He looks from the beautiful surroundings to his even more beautiful husband and positively beams at him. 

David gives him a lob-sided smile that almost feels patronizing. “I mean, until your thirst kicks in,” he says, reminding Patrick that being a vampire isn’t just looking at beautiful things and running faster than a train.

Just like that, Patrick starts to feel it. Under the hum of excitement that courses through him is a need that burns. Any hesitancy he had about hunting was left behind in his human days. Instinct rushes through him, though he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The need doesn’t take over, Patrick can still control himself, and he can still enjoy himself as he runs with his husband. 

“Okay,” he sighs, but he smiles, turning his head to look at David. “I’ll follow your lead.”

“An excellent idea,” David agrees with a confident nod and a playful smirk tugging one corner of his mouth. “Stay close.” With that, David drops Patrick’s hand and picks up his speed. 

Patrick lets out a joyous laugh and picks up his own pace, catching up quickly. Every few footfalls, Patrick snaps a branch beneath his shoes, a sounds that echoes every time. David’s steps are silent, missing anything that could make the barest of sounds. Even after making an effort to move more quietly, Patrick still rustles bushes and kicks rocks that launch at trees. He figures that time will perfect all of his new skills, and time is something he has an abundance of now. 

He loses track of how long they’ve been running. The trees and the dirt have a slightly different smell to them here, a fact that is strange and riveting to Patrick. The bark on the trees has a slightly different texture, and the twigs make a different kind of snap under Patrick’s weight. He has no idea how long he’s been running, or how fast they’ve been moving, so he has no concept of how far they’ve gone, but Patrick knows they’ve made some distance. 

It doesn’t feel like a long time, but the sun begins to peek up, slowly lightening the sky. When they left, it must have been early evening, just past sundown. Now, it’s the start of sunrise. He knows what David means, now, when he says that hours pass like minutes. He was so caught up in the thrilling exhilaration of the beginning of his new life, he hadn’t felt the time float by. It didn’t feel like more than an hour, at most, but morning arrives, anyway. And, with the arrival of the sun comes the reminder of Patrick’s thirst. It’s not the kind that could be quenched with a nice earl grey, either. What was a scratch at the start of their run, now feels like sandpaper forming the walls of his throat.

“I think I should stop soon,” Patrick murmurs. For half a moment, he wonders if David could hear him, because of how softly he’d said it, and how fast they’re still moving. The doubt doesn’t last though, because David smiles with a nod of agreement.

David starts to slow down. Patrick follows closely, using all of his newly enhanced senses to help him gather his bearings. He can hear a trickling stream, and the fast, soft heartbeats of early-rising animals, on the search for food. Suddenly, David stops, and catches Patrick before they can crash into each other. 

“Sorry,” Patrick stammers, embarrassed by his own gracelessness. 

David smiles, reaching up to brush Patrick’s cheek gently. “You’re good,” He promises. “Close your eyes and listen.”

Patrick obeys without hesitation, his eyes falling shut as he listens for any little sound. Past the wind, and the stream, and the critters, is two heartbeats. They’re far away, and unmoving, and steadily beating. The sound is much stronger and slower, clearly belonging to the largest things in the area.

“Is that people?” Patrick asks, his eyes opening to look at David. 

David beams at him proudly, nodding his head. “They’re probably a mile or two away,” David tells him. “And they’re sleeping. Campers.”

“There’s two of them, right?” Patrick confirms, turning his head in the direction where the sound is emitting, like he can see them through the woods. 

“Wow, you’re a natural, aren’t you?” David smiles, his voice soft and affectionate. “That’s right, two people.” He offers Patrick his hand. With a wide smile, Patrick slaps his hand onto David’s and locks their fingers together. David rolls his eyes, suppressing his Patrick-smile, and tugs him through the trees again. This time, they walk, at what is probably a human pace. “There’s a few ways we can do this. We can lure them out by scaring them a little, which is always fun, and adrenaline is one of the nicer flavors. We could shred up their tent, like a crazy animal attack. We could try and seduce them? I mean, it’s very early, and we’re filthy, but I think it could work!” 

Patrick chuckles and shakes his head. “What do you think?” He asks, genuinely, because he has no concept. 

David thinks for a moment. “Well, we could ask for help,” he suggests with a casual shrug. “You have a very trusting face, they might fall for it. Lying is sort of a part of being a vampire, so you should probably get used to that.”

The Patrick he left behind, the human version, probably would be upset at the idea of lying to people before killing them, but right now? He doesn’t care. The burn in his throat has only grown as they’ve run through the woods of Northern Ontario. Now, the need boils a little more rapidly with every beat of the humans’ hearts. 

“I think your mom has been training me to lie to people since Cabaret,” Patrick says, an eyebrow arched. 

David shrugs in concession. “Fair enough,” he agrees, mild amusement poking through. “They’ve all been giving you a lot of advice, right?”

Patrick nods in confirmation, pleased that David’s family has accepted him completely enough to give him vampire advice. “A lot of if was out of context and very confusing,” he says. “But, some of it was pretty good. Alexis said not to hunt in a city, because there are too many eyes. But, your dad said not to swim the ocean unless I absolutely have to, so.”

“Actually, that’s very good advice,” David breathes. “Swimming the ocean is so boring and takes forever. Just jump a boat and hide.”

It hadn’t occurred to Patrick that he could do things like swim across the ocean. He’d never get tired, and he doesn’t need to breathe, so swimming from one hemisphere to another is actually far more doable than his human brain could’ve fathomed. “Huh,” he mumbles, head cocking to one side. Maybe all of the weird advice wasn’t as weird as he thought.

One of the heartbeats starts to get louder, and beats come at a slightly faster rhythm. “What is that?” Patrick asks, his brows furrowing. 

“One of them woke up,” David supplies, softly. “Listen.”

Patrick does what he’s told. He can hear the slick rustling of a sleeping bag being moved around, and the hollow zipper of the mouth of the tent opening up. He hears heavy, clumsy footsteps stumble out of the tent and a few yards away from the campsite, followed by the sound of liquid hitting the ground. 

“Charming,” Patrick mutters to himself. David chuckles, tucking himself into Patrick’s side. 

“Nature calls,” David teases, softly, right into Patrick’s ear. So close, and so gently, he sounds like warm honey. It sends an unexpected shiver of want down Patrick’s spine. 

In the blink of an eye, Patrick stops and pins David against the nearest tree, a leg slotting between David’s to hold him in place. Nose to nose, Patrick can see the color of David’s eyes, illuminated by the early morning light. Exhilaration rushes through him. He likes this. He loves finally being strong enough for David. His husband seems to like it, too, a crooked grin appearing on David’s face as he slides his hands over Patrick’s arms. 

“Oh, it’s like that, huh?” David teases, his voice low. His hands feel magnificent as they roam over Patrick’s shoulders. He brushes his nose along Patrick’s, and it sets him ablaze. 

“Mhm,” Patrick nods, a smug grin on his face as he captures David’s lips in a slow, languid kiss. He can taste David for the first time, feel every little bump on his tongue. It’s all new parts of David to be memorized, and he has all the time in the world to do so. 

David kisses back with fervor, his fingers carding through Patrick’s short hair. Patrick lets out a soft sound of encouragement. He never wants this to stop. He’ll never run out of air and have to take a break from kissing his glorious husband. His need for David’s lips, his tongue, it burns inside Patrick. He needs this, to cling to this forever. 

But, just as he has that thought, David is mumbling against his lips. “Mm-mm,” he shakes his head, pushing Patrick back an inch. 

“Huh?” Patrick breathes, dazed from David’s lips. As strong as he is now, the hands on his shoulders are stronger. Regardless, Patrick is powerless when it comes to ignoring David. 

“Hunting first,” David sighs. “You’re distracting me.” Patrick grins at the accusation. He kisses David once more before stepping back and releasing David from his tight grasp. David sighs, wistfully, and pushes himself away from the tree. “Alright. Tell me what you hear.”

Patrick turns his head towards the campsite, still about a half-mile out. He hears low murmuring, and the soft, wet smacking of lips meeting for a messy, morning kiss. “They’re both waking up,” he whispers, even though the humans probably couldn’t hear them at this distance, anyway. 

“Let’s give them a little scare,” David smirks. “Get the blood flowing this morning.” Patrick can’t help but smirk right back at David, nodding in agreement. 

The campsite is set up in a small clearing. It’s a little, two-person tent, with a tiny fire pit that smolders gently with last night’s embers. Up in the tree is their supplies, hanging from a rope, so no bears can reach it. Two backpacks and two large sets of hiking boots sit outside the tent. The sound of their intimacy gets clearer as Patrick and David approach the site. 

David turns to look at Patrick and pulls a finger up to his own lips. He turns away, towards the tent, and runs at mid-speed behind it, a branch snapping loudly and purposefully under his weight, fallen leaves scuffling across the floor. 

“Did you hear that?” One of the men in the tent asks. 

“Hear what?” The other mumbles, and the sound of their kissing resumes. 

David grins at him from across the clearing, waving him over before climbing up the nearest tree with dexterity and gracefulness Patrick didn’t imagine his husband had. Patrick scrapes his foot along the ground, then runs to meet David. He brushes along a bush intentionally, then hides behind the base of the tree David has climbed up. Their kissing stops, the men listening for another sound. One of their heartbeats starts to pick up, like the tempo to a song on Patrick’s workout playlist. Above him, David shakes the tree branch he’s in, probably to add to the drama. 

“I know you heard that,” one of the men whispers. 

“So, go look,” the other complains, quietly.

“You go look!” The first hisses. “I’m staying in here!”

“Like a bear won’t just rip through this tent to get to you,” the second groans, quietly. He must be getting up, the sleeping bag rustling around inside. 

The tent zippers open, and out steps one of the men. He’s taller than David, and has a thick, dark beard. He steps into his boots and looks around the campsite, his eyes skimming over where David and Patrick are hidden, not even catching a glimpse. It makes Patrick grin to himself.

“Dude, there’s nothing out here,” the bearded man says, turning to the mouth of the tent. 

The other man, still inside, groans. “Don’t call me ‘dude’ when I had your cock in my mouth last night,” he complains, pulling himself out of the sleeping bag and tent to investigate himself. 

“See?” The bearded man crows, his arms waving around them. “You just watch too many horror movies.” He bends down to put a log on the embers as the other man starts to put on his boots. 

“Is that your way of calling me paranoid?” The second man asks, and David chuckles, from up in the tree, which has the human looking around for the source. The bearded man laughs, too, at his point being proven.

Patrick takes this opportunity to run at full speed around their campsite, jumping up and hitting the bag of food on the rope so it swings. Both men jump and stare at the bag, swinging in the air. 

“Did you see that?” The jumpier of the two cries, pointing at their food. 

“I didn’t see anything,” the bearded man says, a waver of fear wriggling through his voice. The sound of their hearts racing in perfect time is sweet in Patrick’s ears. Do they know how in sync they are? Do they know how beautiful the sound of their bodies is? 

Patrick steps into their clearing, behind their backs, as they’re both still standing, facing the swinging rope. “Hi, there,” he greets, and they both jump and yelp loudly, turning to face them. 

David, somehow, jumps through the branches softly enough to not be heard. He lands on the ground behind the two men, between them and their swinging food bag. 

“God,” The bearded man sighs, grasping at his chest. “You scared us.”

Patrick smiles at them, knowing that his face is a friendly one. He realizes it’s probably an advantage. “Sorry,” He lies. “We’re camping nearby and we got a little turned around.”

“We?” The scared one questions. 

“Good morning,” David greets them from just behind the two campers, making them both jump and cry out again. One corner of David’s mouth lifts in amusement. 

“Do you have anything to drink?” Patrick asks, and when the two men turn back to look at him, he’s only a few feet away. His proximity makes their hearts race faster. Patrick grins a little wider at the sound, slowly taking a step closer to the bearded man. Though he’s got a few inches on Patrick, he stumbles back and into David, intimidated.

“I think they’re scared, honey,” David tells him, putting his hands on the bearded man’s shoulders. The bearded man’s heart couldn’t possibly beat any faster. 

“Probably smart,” Patrick agrees, looking them both over. In the early morning light, and even as handsome as they are, the two men look dull, especially next to David, who is luminous. Their pupils are dialated in fear, and Patrick can see their pulse points waving to him. He can smell their fear in the air, salted and spiced. Patrick can practically taste it already, his mouth waters at their closeness. 

“You don’t need to be afraid, boys,” David says, his voice sickly sweet, giving his words the opposite effect. “My name is David. This is my husband, Patrick.” Patrick beams at the word, because it hasn’t lost it’s thrill in any of the many moments they’ve gotten. “Patrick, here, is absolutely parched. We’ve been looking for something in these woods that might be able to quench some of his thirst all night long, and then, here you are!” 

“W-we have a gallon of spring water, i-in the tent,” The bearded man stammers. 

“That is a very generous offer,” David says, nodding his head, though the humans they’ve found have their backs to him. “But we had something else in mind.” He punctuates his sentence by shoving the bearded man towards Patrick, who catches him easily. 

He doesn’t even need to think, Patrick’s body moves on his behalf. One arm wraps around the man’s middle, while the other hand cards through his hair to pull his head to the side. Patrick opens his mouth and sinks his teeth right into the part of his neck that pulses. The skin breaks like warm butter. Were Patrick’s teeth sharper, his jaw stronger? Surly, he couldn’t bite through skin with such ease before. The man screams when his neck is torn open, but his blood sings much louder. It pours into Patrick’s mouth, and he’s set alight. He needs more. He grips his prey tightly in his arms, sucking him dry as fast as he can. He can feel precious ounces dribble out and down his own shirt, but he doesn’t care.

Vaguely, he’s aware of David feeding on the other man, through distant, muffled screams. He’s, needless to say, far more practiced at this than Patrick, causing less ruckus and making less of a mess. Truthfully, Patrick loves this. He loves feeling his prey struggle against him, and slowly loose strength. He loves the flavor of the fear, and the want of a partner, and life itself, coursing through him. Sure, he could be a little neater, but perfection will come with time, which he now has an excess of. 

When there’s nothing left, Patrick lets the body drop to the ground with a heavy thud. David drops his a moment or two later. There’s no blood on his face or clothes, no traces at all of his feed, and it instantly makes Patrick feel a little self-conscious. He looks down at himself, at the soft, blue sweater that David likes so much, and sees it soaked in blood. With how particular he knows his husband is about clothes and messes, Patrick feels a little shame, for enjoying the making of his own mess.

David lets out a breath, and Patrick catches him looking over his body. Patrick tenses, already prepared for David to tell him to stay away. As much as he wants David, as badly as his hands ache to touch him, he’d gladly keep away from David until he’s sufficiently clean. 

“There is literally nothing that could’ve prepared me for how hot you are right now,” David mumbles, instead. Desire shoots through Patrick at his words. With that, David marches the few feet that separate them. He grasps Patrick by his cheeks and pulls him in for a fervent kiss. 

Patrick whimpers into David’s mouth, wrapping his arms around David. His need for David feels even more intense than before. The feeding, the blood, it only amplified everything. The thin, coarse fabric of David’s tunic feels like silk under his hands. David, underneath his clothes, feels solid and soft, and like something Patrick never wants to let go of. 

Eventually, after what is probably too long, they pull back. David’s face is smeared with the blood that dribbled down Patrick’s chin. Patrick reaches up and runs his fingers through it. It’s slick, and almost sticky, against David’s rough stubble. David chuckles, ducking his head to nip gently at Patrick’s fingers.

“Is it always like this?” Patrick whispers, hearing wonder in his own voice. He’s never heard himself before, not like this. Nothing has ever been like this. 

David smiles fondly at him. “It loses a little edge, eventually,” he admits, with a small shrug. “Not for the first few decades, though.”

Patrick grins widely at him, pulling him back in for another sweet kiss. He’s excited for his never-ending future with his perfect, loving husband. He pulls back just enough to look over David’s radiance in the streaming morning light, and has the breath knocked out of him. He can’t stop himself from claiming David’s lips once more. 

“Messy,” David complains against Patrick’s lips, eventually, stepping away from Patrick to dig through the tent. “I mean, you’re way less messy than any other baby vampire I’ve ever seen, but still. Unacceptable. You got blood on my burial clothes.”

“I’m sure I’m not to first to get blood on your burial clothes,” Patrick smirks, watching David bend over to crawl into the little tent. 

David emerges with the gallon of water and an unamused look on his face. “These clothes happen to be very difficult to clean,” he complains. “They were not this color originally. Ugh.” He climbs out of the tent and goes for one of the bags just outside of the opening. “And, I’d like to say, you know, for the record, it was never for that reason.”

Patrick grins to himself. He likes knowing that, even after a thousand years, he still gets to be David’s first at a few things. He watches David pull a shirt out of the bag, dump water on it, and wipe his face clean of blood and dirt. He looks up at Patrick, then dumps more water on the shirt and passes it over to him. Patrick thanks him softly, quickly wiping his face and neck clean. When he pulls the cloth away from his face, David hands him a clean, dry shirt to change into. 

“You’ve done this before,” Patrick teases, tossing the wet shirt away before taking the clean shirt. 

“Once or twice,” David shrugs, smirking. “But never with my husband.”

Patrick beams as he pulls on the Henley, a size too big. Every little reminder of his life that he gets always makes him light up inside. As soon as the fresh shirt is on, Patrick has David wrapped in his arms, eager to kiss his husband. He wants David, now more than ever, but David doesn’t fall for any of Patrick’s usual tricks. 

“You’re not done hunting,” David mumbles, pulling back to narrow his eyes at Patrick. “And we are not fucking in the woods.”

Patrick can’t help the soft laugh that bubbles forth. David kisses him one more time, then wriggles out of the grasp of Patrick’s wandering hands. ”So, what do we do with them?” Patrick asks, gesturing to the two bodies at their feet. 

David shrugs and shakes his head. “Uh, leave them?” David suggests. 

That surprises Patrick deeply. “Really?” He asks, looking down at the two men, whose blank eyes stare at each other. “Wouldn’t that be-? Obvious?”

David raises an eyebrow. “What, a vampire attack in the middle of nowhere is obvious?” He teases. “Some park rangers will get here in a few days, and assume it’s an animal attack, and be on the lookout for a bear or a cougar or something. If anyone even thinks the word ‘vampire’, it’d just be one Lone Ranger, and he’d never actually suggest that crazy idea out loud. Because, obviously, vampires aren’t real.”

Patrick grins at the thought. “Right, of course,” he agrees with a shake of his head. “Obviously. I guess I hadn’t really thought about that.”

“Besides,” David shrugs. “Even if they find something that points to something vaguely human, it’d never even be associated with us, since we’re, like, four, maybe five hundred miles from home.”

“F-What?” Patrick stammers, his eyes widening. 

“You run real fast now, honey,” David teases him with a smirk. 

“Five hundred miles?” Patrick repeats, baffled by that number. 

“I mean, I don’t have my phone on me to track the exact mileage, but this sort of vaguely looks like the Polar Bear National Park,” David shrugs. He takes Patrick by the hand and starts to lead him away from the campsite. “I guess I won’t know until we hit the bay. We could go for a nice swim later, if you wanted to.”

“I do,” Patrick agrees with a nod, ready and willing to do anything David wants to show him. He’s ready for this, whatever it brings. 

David smiles his fond, crooked smile, his eyes watery. It reminds Patrick of so many years ago, when he first sang to David. What was once a vibrant, colorful memory now seems dull compared to the sharp, striking vividness around him. The bright orange on that sweater David wore is a candle beside the roaring bonfire of the deep brown tunic. 

“We have more hunting to do before we go on any cute, married vampire adventures,” David huffs, shaking his emotions out. “Keep an ear out.” When he starts to run, Patrick runs with him, knowing there’s no place he’d rather be than by David’s side. 

-

When David woke, he wasn’t sure if he was really awake. It was dark, and heavy. Panic set in quickly, forcing him upright. He pushed his way though what held him down, which was the earth, on the lands of his family’s home. A sharp inhale did nothing to quell his nerves. It was like waking up from a dream, everything from before was a distant, half-remembered haze. His surroundings, his situation, it was all too intense. His body didn’t need the air he sucked in, so that precious oxygen did nothing to calm him in the slightest. 

Directly beside him, his sister rose a moment later. Alexandra coughed a few times, sucking in air she didn’t need, too. A fraction of a second later, their parents pushed through the ground too, matching befuddled expressions on their faces.

“What’s happening?” His mother demanded, her eyes darting around their lands for some answers. “Why am I buried like next season’s turnips?”

The last thing David remembered was Narseh. His hand instinctively flew to his neck, to where Narseh’s teeth ripped into him, but found nothing but his own smooth skin. Though the memory was dim in comparison to the reality, he knew it happened. He could almost feel Narseh’s teeth, still sunk into him.

“David, what’s going on?” His sister whined, assuming David would understand. He understood more than they did, but that bar wasn’t set terribly high. He felt clueless, unable to help his family.

David, as it turns out, didn’t need to know much. The space between him and his father started to move. He pushed his sister out of the way, always quietly determined to protect her. She was pulled by his force from the ground, and she started to scramble away quickly. He scrambled alongside her in fear.

“Finally,” a graveled, accented voice muttered from the moving earth. The familiar tone forced David to a halt, all his memories flooded back to him. “I thought you’d never wake.” The dirt sifted away from the body pulling itself upright, and then, Narseh was staring down at the family. “Well, get up. Stand up! No self-respecting vampire should be sitting in the dirt as you four are.”

“Vampire?!” Moriah cried.

“My apologies,” Narseh sneered. “Did I stammer my words? Was I speaking in another language?”

“Vampires aren’t real,” David breathes. What should have been a bare whisper echoed loudly in all present ears. David couldn’t believe what he was hearing. 

Narseh scoffed. “You don’t believe me?” He asked. “You, David? What is it you saw, just before I turned you?”

David shook his head, not wanting to believe the truth. He didn’t want to be a vampire. All be wanted was a regular life, with pretty lovers and lots of wine. The last thing he wanted was to be bound to blood, roaming the earth for eternity with his family and a monster. 

“Those are just stories,” John shook his head in disbelief, in concurrence with his son. “Tall tales we tell children to scare them.”

“And now, you are the creatures of those tall tales,” Narseh said, offhandedly. “You’re welcome.”

David’s jaw hung open, half in shock and half in anger. He’d trusted Narseh, he invited him into his family home, and Narseh turned him into a monster, just like him, one that feeds on the life of innocent people. “You’re who killed the villagers,” he breathed in realization.

“You made us into monsters,” Moriah realized, softly, her eyes darting up to look at the newest member of their family. The words settled in David’s stomach like a scummy river rock. The life he knew, the one of luxury and ease, was gone. 

“I made you immortal,” Narseh corrected them, spitting his words like they left a rotten taste in his mouth. “I made you more than mere humans. Now, you have the power of life and death in your wealthy hands. You should be thanking me.”

Alexandra, beside her brother, let out an angry cry. David jumped and looked at her, catching a glimpse of her animalistic rage. Never had he seen her like this; then again, they were different now. Her body launched out of the soft ground she was buried beneath, and straight at the family’s sire, crashing into him at lightning speed. Her delicate hands wrapped tightly around Narseh’s neck, forcing him down onto his back. Instead of struggling, Narseh laughed. 

“Such spirit,” he grinned up at her, which only forced her grip tighter. Narseh hardly seemed to feel her at all. “I knew I had chosen correctly.”

“Alexandra!” Their father yelled, quickly dragging himself from the ground to pull his daughter off of their guest. Regardless of how they felt, they were too highborn and polite to be attacking a guest, even if that guest had stolen their choices and their humanity. 

“I’ll kill you myself!” Alexandra screamed, pointing emphatically at the monster who changed them. She tried to break free of her father’s grasp, but couldn’t quite manage it. 

“Alexandra, stop!” John demanded. He was stronger now, but not strong enough to stifle her vibrating anger. 

But, because John was holding back his daughter, he couldn’t hold back his wife. Moriah, thankfully, had the good sense that choking Narseh wouldn’t bring him to his death. Instead of delicate hands around his neck, a thin arm roped around it. She climbed onto his back, digging her feet into his hips for leverage. 

“Moriah!” John cried. 

Narseh laughed again. Moriah pulled as hard as she could, then went soaring backwards. Their sire’s amusement was cut off in an instant, but it echoed around them in the air. David stared at his mother, flat on her back, with Narseh’s head cradled in her arm. 

“Oh, my god,” David breathed, his eyes trained to the severed head. “Oh, my god, you ripped his head off like he’s a jar of honey!”

“I did what needed to be done!” Moriah defended herself, standing. His blood soaked her clothes, a sight that was almost too horrific for David to bear. She dropped the head with no regard for its owner. It rolled on the ground, collecting dirt in the wet part of where his neck once was. “He took away our choice to continue out our charmed lives, I simply extended him the same courtesy.”

“You killed him!” John gaped at her, finally pulling his eyes from Narseh’s blank ones to look at his wife.

“He killed us!” She argued. “He came into our home, gained our trust, and turned us into monsters!”

“Obviously, he didn’t kill us,” Alexandra rolled her eyes, then turned her attention to the headless corpse of their sire. “We’re alive.”

“Oh, please, Alexandra,” Moriah huffed, her patience as thin as her wrists. “Use some sense, won’t you? Listen. Can you hear them?” She pointed in the distance, to their home, full of villagers and servants. The few that were still awake chattered indistinctly. The four new vampires could hear signs of life from all around them, animals and insects searching for food. “I hear every heartbeat in our home, on the entire property, but none here. No merry beat shutters in these chests anymore.” She pointed wildly between them for emphasis.

David huffed and rolled his eyes, if only to deflect her theatrics. She was right. Life was vibrant around them, even in the pitch black of the clouded night sky. Within their small circle of four was only silence. “So, we’re dead vampires,” he sighed, resigned. 

“This is your fault, David,” Alexandra sneered, her arms folding over her chest. 

“My fault?” David balked at her.

“Yes, your fault!” She repeated. “You’re the reason he stayed with us!”

“Um, no, he stayed with us because Dad opened the doors for the village,” David attempted to defend himself. “And, you’re the one who convinced him to stay. Don’t be mad at me because he ended up liking me more.”

“He did not like you more than me!” Alexandra argued, her face tightening in displeasure. 

“Are you sure, though?” David probed, a certain condescension lacing through his face and voice. “I mean, you literally just said he stayed for me, so, are you sure?”

“Ugh, David,” Alexandra groaned. 

Under normal circumstances, David might’ve continued to fight with her, but the reality of his situation was quickly catching up. Sounds from all around overwhelmed him. He could hear everything, including rapid footfalls coming towards them from the house. “Someone is coming,” he said, snapping his head in the right direction. The other three heads snap in the same direction, listening for the same evidence. “I’m not killing our people.”

“We’re not going to have to kill anyone,” John tried to soothe him. 

“Yes! We will!” David argues. “We’re a big, stupid family of vampires! The only thing that makes us more stupid is believing that we aren’t ever going to kill anyone!” He looked back down at Narseh’s head. His blank eyes stared back at David. “The only person that could help us is now-, you know. He was dead before, and now he’s double-dead. We’re just four idiots in the woods with no help! So, don’t tell me we’re not going to kill anyone when we all can blatantly hear someone coming. I don’t know about you all, but I’m getting pretty thirsty.”

“Being a vampire can’t possibly be that hard,” Alexandra said, toying with her hair, nervously. “I mean, we’re smart, right? We can figure this out without him.” She flapped a hand in the direction of Narseh’s head with a shudder. 

“Yes, yes, exactly!” Moriah agreed, wagging a finger at her daughter. “We are an extremely capable group of individuals, regardless of what my snide offspring may recount, now with the world at our feet. If anyone can figure it out, it would be us.”

“Well, you’d better figure it out quick,” David said, waving a hand towards the rapidly gaining footsteps. He forced himself further from the manor, putting his family between himself and the heartbeat. “I’d say you’ve got about ten seconds.”

“David, you need to, like, calm down for a minute, okay?” Alexandra huffs in annoyance. “God, you’re always so frazzled and stressful. You’re like that babbling, crazy lady who feeds all of the rats.”

“Oh, my god!” David complained, his voice high with distress.

“Alright, kids, that’s enough,” John tried to calm them both down. He held up both hands, like he was what was keeping them apart. 

David pointed, emphatically, toward the approaching person just as he burst through the treeline. He was vaguely familiar to David, having seen him around. Based on his smell, he must have been a stable boy. He was handsome, in a rugged, effortless sort of was that was just Alexandra’s type, a thought that made David roll his eyes. He was panting, having run as fast as he could to follow the sounds he’d heard. 

“M-Master?” The boy stammered in confusion upon seeing the family he worked for. “Miss Alexandra? What are you doing out here so late? Where have you been all these days?” His wandering eyes landed on the body on the ground, then to it’s head, a few feet away. “What happened here?” Alexandra stares at his neck. Just below the stable boy’s skin was a thick vein that pulsed hard with exertion. She couldn’t bring herself to tear her eyes from it. He caught onto her intense stare, and slowly stepped towards her. “Are you okay, Miss?”

Just as the words escaped, Alexandra snatched him up in her arms and sank her teeth into his neck. 

“Alexandra!” John called, but it was no use. His daughter now had the taste for blood. Even if he yanked her body with all of his strength, she wouldn’t let go until she was done. 

“Oh, wonderful,” Moriah huffed, sarcastically, her hands reaching up, then slapping back down on her legs. “Just perfect. Please, make a meal of the help. It is nigh on impossible to find a decent stablehand, and now we must start the search all over again.”

“Really?” David snarked towards his mother. “That’s what you’re taking issue with?”

David watches as Alexandra spills their stable boy’s blood down her beautiful gown and onto the ground. Slowly, his strength drains, and he stops struggling against Alexandra’s hold on him. The smell of his blood in the air has David’s mouth watering. Were he a more desperate man, he might have ducked his head between them, to catch anything she dribbled. David wasn’t as desperate as some might have thought. 

“Well, she has a point, son,” John agreed, but he spoke slowly, distracted by the blood. They all watched Alexandra have her first meal, entranced by the process of it all. 

The closest heartbeats were coming from the manor, and David had already decided that he would not eat their people. David swallowed hard and shook his head as his sister let the body drop to the ground. “Fuck this,” he grunted, stumbling back. “I’m getting far away from here.”

David turned and started to run. His speed startled him, at first, stumbling as he found his footing. He heard his family call after him, begging him to come back, but David didn’t stop until he was too thirsty to keep going. At the time, he couldn’t put a finger on how long he ran, it felt like somewhere between a minute and a year, which isn’t exactly precise.

He ran for twenty minutes before he found a hunter in the outskirts of the neighboring town.

-

  
Patrick spends a lot of his time looking at David. He did before, but this is another beast, entirely. He looks at everything with a lot more scrutiny these days. He finds he has a lot more time to take notice of all of the little things he loved before, especially all of his husband’s little things. 

As soon as he and his husband returned home after his first hunt, Patrick couldn’t stop ogling their house. Everything made sense. All of their knickknacks and wall hangings and decorative accents were so precisely perfect, it baffles Patrick that he didn’t notice it before. The store is the same way, Patrick marvels at every little detail he overlooked before. David always looks smug when he catches Patrick rubbernecking their color palate, and, truthfully, Patrick loves that smug look.

Patrick loves the little ticks of David’s face even more. The tiniest, minute details seem to make all the difference. As much as he’s enjoyed marveling at their life, he always found his favorite view to be his husband. He gets lost in the color of David’s eyes. He’s dazzled by the way the light reflects off of his dark hair. He loves every single enhanced detail. He knows that David worried, before, about how closely Patrick would be able to scrutinize his every bare millimeter, but all it’s done is make Patrick fall even deeper in love with David. He knows, with everything in him, that he loved David very deeply before, but it seems like small potatoes now. 

His otherworldly devotion is a good distraction from everything. David had been hesitant to allow Patrick back to work so soon. Being around humans all day was a risk, but, as long as David was there with him, there was something at the store that Patrick wanted more than the blood of their customers. David was afraid that Patrick would go wild and attack without meaning to, but Patrick has always championed in restraint, even if it’s the hardest thing he’s ever done. It isn’t just the blood that’s unbearable, either; after coming home from their three day hunt, which was after their two day, subterranean nap, the townspeople had a lot of questions about why they were closed so suddenly and for so long. Patrick came to work when he was sick, and David never got sick, anyway, so the people of Schitt’s Creek didn’t really believe that they’d gotten the flu, but weren’t willing to argue with a known vampire and his husband, who is looking especially handsome since his flu-recovery.

Soon after the start of the rest of Patrick’s life, Alexis swings into the store. It’s not an uncommon occurrence, she likes to drop in and annoy her brother, or sample products, or ask Patrick for business advice for her latest out-of-the-box plan. She’s wearing one of her running outfits, her sneakers and her wrist sweatbands in the same aqua-blue. 

“There’s my favorite brother-in-law!” She coos as she enters, closing the door behind her. It instantly alerts Patrick to the fact that she needs him for something. 

“I have it on good authority that I’m your only brother-in-law,” he says, cocking his head to the side. He sees her now, all of her. So much of her is so much like David, it’s impossible for Patrick to not be charmed by her. 

“That doesn’t mean you can’t also be my favorite,” She deflects, as innocently as she can manage. She looks over Patrick’s body as she meanders over to the counter he stands behind. “Is that what your wearing?”

Patrick looks down at himself. He doesn’t really understand what she means by that. “Yes?” He croaks, looking back up at her with a puzzled expression. 

She huffs and rolls her eyes. “I mean, I guess, whatever,” she shrugs. “It doesn’t really matter. I mean, you’re kinda dressed like a junior Congressman meeting his blue-collar constituents, but David has definitely hunted in weirder outfits.” 

David pushes the curtain open from the back room, glaring at his sister from over Patrick’s shoulder. “Choke, please,” he says, sickly sweet. 

“What are you talking about?” Patrick stammers, glancing from Alexis to David when he comes to stand at Patrick’s side. 

Alexis stares at him like he just asked the stupidest question in the world. “Um, we’re going hunting?” She reminds him, impatiently, even though this is the first he’s hearing of this. Her head wobbles as she said speaks, her ponytail flicking in annoyance. 

“Are we?” He asks, his eyebrows raised in surprise. He looks from Alexis to David for a response. 

“Did I-? Not-? Mention that?” David squeaks,

“No, no, you didn’t,” Patrick shakes his head. A quiver of annoyance ripples through him, but it’s overwhelmingly overpowered by his fondness for his husband. “I’m good. We just got back.” Truthfully, Patrick has been feeling a little tickle in the back of his throat, but they’d only just gotten back to work. 

“It’s been three weeks,” David says.

That startles Patrick. He was sure it had only been a few days, at most. He’d gotten a little lost in the wonder. He makes a mental note to try and keep track of the passage of time a little bit better. “Well, you guys can go months without feeding,” he counters, but he knows it’s a weak argument. 

“We’re very old,” David says, grimacing as the admission leaves his mouth. 

“Yeah, and you’re a little baby,” Alexis agrees with a nod. Patrick frowns at the words, even though he knows, by comparison, he is exactly that. “You can’t compare yourself to us.”

“You might think you’re okay,” David interrupts before Alexis can continue backhandedly insult his husband, “but, you’re still new at this. And I know you don’t want to risk our customer base. So-. I can handle the store for a few days. You go. Have a good time.”

“Mm, don’t worry, Patrick,” Alexis says with a confident nod. “You and I will be having a great time together. Between you and me, David is a little restrained when it comes to hunting.”

“Okay,” David sighs, because it’s not just between Alexis and Patrick, he’s standing right there. Patrick is suddenly very unsure of hunting with Alexis. He’s heard, arguably, too many of her stories to be comfortable with already starting on these kinds of adventures of his own. David senses his uneasiness instantly and puts a gentle hand on his back. “You’ll be fine. Better than fine. This is gonna be good for you.”

“But-,” Patrick tries to reason. “We’re hosting that calligraphy workshop.”

“Ew, who are you, Thomas Jefferson?” Alexis complains. It makes him wonder if she knew Thomas Jefferson.

“I can handle the calligraphers, alright?” David swears. “You probably won’t. That crowd tends to draw blood.” He tries to grimace, but Patrick can see his smile.

Patrick chuckles and ducks his head. “Fine,” he agrees with a sigh. “I’ll go.”

“Oh, yay, Patrick!” Alexis claps her hands daintily. “Yay! Okay, let’s go.” She turns abruptly and starts to stomp towards the door.

David pulls Patrick by the shoulders to start to move him around the desk. This action surprises Patrick. “Wh- now?” He stammers.

“You’ll be fine,” David promises again. “You’re a natural, remember? Trust your gut. Let a little loose. But, um, change your shirt first.”

Patrick looks down at himself, at the shirt he picked out this morning. He knows it’s a favorite of David’s, even if he’d never admit to liking a department store button-down in powder blue. “Okay,” he agrees, looking back up at David. “Okay.”

“Okay,” David echoes with a smile. 

“Okay!” Alexis agrees with the pair, waving Patrick over to the door with some impatience and swinging the door open again.

“Bye, honey,” David coos, drawing Patrick back in for a soft kiss. Now, Patrick definitely doesn’t want to go. “Have fun!” David turns Patrick by his shoulders and moves him around the counter. 

Patrick chuckles softly, but follows Alexis to the door. Before he’s completely out the door, he spares one last look at his husband, smiling at the very sight of him. “Love you,” he says with a soft warmth pouring through him. 

“Love you,” David mumbles back, with a roll of his eyes and a wave of his hand. 

Patrick beams at his simple words, closing the door behind him. He waves goodbye through the glass door, then turns to Alexis, who is stretching her hamstrings, even though she doesn’t need to. 

“Mkay, let’s get moving!” She says, in her best Jazzercise voice. 

“I’ve gotta change my shirt first,” Patrick says. 

“Oh, my god, are you kidding me?” Alexis deadpans, nearly glaring at him. She’s always had a weak glare, and now that they’re just about on the same playing field, Patrick doesn’t find it quite so intimidating. 

“You heard the boss,” Patrick explains, pointing over his shoulder to the glass door behind him.

Alexis sags with a dramatic groan. “Fine,” she huffs. “God, you’re, like, so whipped.” She turns on her heel, and runs at full speed towards his house. He wasn’t expecting her to run, like that, in broad daylight. Then again, humans likely wouldn’t see more than a mere blur of her as she passes. With a small shrug to himself, he takes off after her. The run to his house is surprisingly short, and he wonders why David is always late to work. When he gets back home, the front door is open and Alexis is tapping her foot on the stoop. “I’m getting old out here, Patrick.”

Patrick snorts in response. “No, you’re really not,” he promises as he breezes past her to go upstairs.

“Thank you,” she says, like she’s complaining, annoyed that he noticed how youthful she is. “C’mon, I’d like to get going sometime this week!”

Patrick rolls his eyes, but smiles in amusement as he climbs the staircase to his and David’s bedroom. “Don’t be impatient,” He scolds, but gently. 

“Sorry, my concept of time is a little off,” she comments, very offhandedly and a little distractedly. He can hear her slow footsteps meandering, and their knickknacks being moved. “You’ll understand someday.”

“Is that why you’re always late to everything?” He asks, conversationally. 

“That’s more of a superiority thing than a time thing,” she admits, and Patrick can’t help but grin as he shuffles through his drawers. “Also? Rude, Patrick.”

“So is being late,” he argues, casually, unbuttoning his shirt to put it in the hamper. “Maybe back in the day it was okay to be late to everything, but now, people respect each other’s time.” He slides an old gym shirt on, and changes his shoes into something a little more athletic. 

“ ‘Back in the day’,” Alexis scoffs, and he can practically hear her eyes rolling. “God, you’re, like, an eternity older than me. I know that’s not the reality of the situation, but you definitely seem pretty hell-bent on proving that wrong.”

Patrick chuckles as he thunders down the stairs. He finds Alexis examining their things, like she’s never been to their house before. “Whatever makes you feel better,” he teases her gently. 

Alexis rolls her eyes in an attempt to fight off a smile. Before, Patrick might have missed it, but he can see everything now. “You’re turning into David,” she complains. 

“Is that a bad thing?” He smirks, folding his arms over his chest, not bothering to hide his amusement. 

“Well, I was sort of hoping it’d be the other way around,” she teases back, her hands flopping as she talks, “where he would turn into a nice pushover, instead of you turning into a bitch.”

Patrick grins at her. “Thank you,” He says, because he doesn’t really know what else to say. He turns away from her and opens the door. “I’m getting old over here, Alexis.”

Alexis smirks right back at him, then breezes through the house quickly. “I think we’ll make a decent vampire of you yet,” she says, her way of complimenting him. She boops his nose as she walks past him. 

He takes that as a compliment as he locks the house behind him. He turns to his sister-in-law with an expectant look. “After you,” he says with a sweep of his hand. Alexis rolls her eyes, but runs, and he runs right after her. 

-

David didn’t know exactly how long he’d been gone. The blood and the ravaging was a really effective time-blur. It was early spring when he left, and now the leaves have changed color and started to drop. A quiver of shame ran through David. He’d hardly noticed his own absence, but the shame was related to his hoping that no one would notice his presence.

He waited at the edge of the property all day, until night fell, and then waited more, until he was sure he could hear that everyone was asleep. When the heartbeats were steady and the breathing was slow with slumber, David made his move, sprinting across the property and sneaking in through an easy window. Faster than lightning, he crept through the familiar hallways silently. It was the same as he remembered, though his memories were weak. He slithered through his home until he reached his chambers. 

Nothing was out of place, or any different than he’d last seen. Everything was the same. The sight made his skin crawl. He didn’t belong here anymore. The boy who lived in this room, who wrought drama through these halls, was dead. David was a thundering echo of his former self. Stained with blood, he couldn’t rightfully belong here again. 

He grabbed a bag, and carefully packed up his favorite clothes and books, whatever he might need. He didn’t know where he was going, or if he would ever be back, but he knew he had to pack like he’d never see any of this again. He would miss it, the charmed life of his childhood. He wondered if he’d ever forget this place. The memories of his human life already felt dim, it could’ve only been a matter of time before he forgot it all completely. 

He was drawn from his reverie by a familiar voice. He should have heard her coming, but he didn’t, too caught up in his own head. “You’re back,” Alexandra sighed, and David jumped when he heard her, looking over his shoulder at his sister. In an instant, she’s in his bedchamber. Her arms wrapped around his body.

“Ugh, what are you doing?” He complained, trying to shake her off, but not terribly hard. It’s the first touch he’s had since being turned, who knows how long ago. 

“It’s a hug, David,” she mumbled into his shoulder. “I’m hugging you.”

David grimaced to himself, but allowed his sister to hug him. “Why?” He asked, confrontationally. 

“Because, you’ve been gone for months!” She sighed, pulling back to look at him. “God, you stink. I’ll fetch Rivke to draw you a bath.”

“I’m not staying,” David argued with her. His hands found her shoulders and pushed her a step back. 

Her face twisted in confusion. “What do you mean?” She asked.

He huffed and rolled his eyes. “I can’t stay here,” he told her, forceful and quiet. “I don’t want to stay here. And, honestly, I don’t know why you’re choosing to stay here.” Her brows furrowed in confusion, her head tilting slightly to the side. “We’re vampires now. We can go anywhere and eat anyone, and you’re just choosing to stay at the one place you were never allowed to leave. Alexandra, you can go anywhere. Nothing is keeping you here.”

The idea obviously hadn’t occurred to her. Women weren’t typically allowed to go anywhere alone, especially beautiful, young, unmarried women. But she wasn’t just any woman; she was a beautiful, young, unmarried vampire, and no one could stop her from anything she wanted. 

“I want to go with you,” she said, looking to her big brother for guidance. 

“Absolutely not,” he barked, revolted by the idea of his little sister following him around forever. 

“Wha-? Why not?” She sneered, every bit the spoiled child she was raised to be. 

“Um, I’m not getting stuck taking care of my baby sister for the rest of time,” he sneered right back. “You can take care of yourself.”

Alexandra pouted, her whole face turning down into a puppy-dog expression that likely would have worked, had they not had another interruption. 

“You’re back,” Moriah breathed from the doorframe, echoing her daughter. 

“Yeah,” David huffed, going back to his packing. “Not for long. I’m just grabbing a few things, and then, I’m gone.”

His mother let out a humorless laugh. “So, what?” She bit, her arms folding over her chest, tossing her hair over her shoulder with some impatience. “You’d just abandon your family? In our greatest time of distress? Distress you inadvertently caused, might I add.”

David turned to glare at her, bewildered at her accusation. “Uh, yeah,” he agreed, easily. “I’m abandoning my family. Especially after that little rude remark.” He gestured over her with his fingers, then turned back to his belongings. “This isn’t my fault, and, as long as you’re planning on blaming me for it all, I won’t be around to listen.”

“Where will you go?” Moriah prodded, clearly attempting to provoke him. “Hmm? Where could you possibly hide? You’ve always been the most visible of our kin, second to me. Look at you, you have no chance of blending in.”

“Oh, I was thinking of going, um, as far from here as I possibly can, so I never accidentally run into any of you people, ever again,” he said with a forced smile. He held her eyes for a moment before roughly grabbing his bag and throwing it over his shoulder. 

“Is that David?” He heard his father say, from elsewhere in the manor. Not more than a moment later, John stands at the door beside his wife, smiling at the sight of his son, returned home. “Oh, David! We were hoping you’d come back!”

“Yeah, here I am,” David said, lacking enthusiasm. “And now, I’m leaving, please get out of my way.” He waves his hands between his parents, who were blocking the doorway. 

“No, no, David,” John attempted to stop him, holding up a hand. “You just got back. Stay for a little while. We’ll get you cleaned up, and you can leave tomorrow.”

David snorted in surprise, gawking at his father. “No,” he said, firmly. “Please, get out of my way.” They didn’t budge. “Really?”

“David, you’ve clearly become unhinged,” Moriah announced, like she knew anything about him anymore. It had been months, and David was different now. “Leaving you to the public is a danger.”

“I’ll be fine,” he brushed them off, trying to get past them, but they still refused to move. 

“A danger to the public, dear, not to you,” Moriah made him aware. David’s mouth shut with a click of his teeth. “Yes, we’ve heard all about your little rampage, about the monster that wanders our neighboring lands, feeding on innocents, striking terror in the hearts of many. We’re all very proud.” She said it sarcastically, and her tone made David queasy. 

“I didn’t come here to be verbally accosted by my family,” he complained, pushing past them to leave. 

“No, you came to ransack the place!” His mother cried. 

“David, come back!” John called after his son, but it was no use. David was already gone. The three remaining Roses jumped when they heard the heavy door slam shut behind him. The manor was quiet in his wake. The nighttime bugs chirped outside, and the help shifted in their sleep, leaving the three vampires to face a new truth.

“Well, if he can leave, I’m leaving,” Alexandra announced after a moment or two of silence. 

Moriah tsked in minor annoyance. “Please, Alexandra, it’s simply not appropriate for a young woman such as yourself to wander alone in this world,” she sighed with a shake of her head. 

“Mkay, well, if anyone can make it appropriate, it’d be me,” Alexandra argued, gesturing to herself with a hinged wrist. 

“It’s safer for you here,” John tells her. 

Alexandra groans loudly, glaring at both of her parents. “I am a vampire!” She cried. “You can’t keep me here forever! Besides! It’s not like we can even stay here forever, anyways! Do you really think that the help hasn’t noticed that we aren’t taking meals? That we suddenly have all decided to take up hunting, even though we never take any sharp hunting thingies with us? Or bring back, like, meat or pelts? They’re gonna catch on, and we’re gonna have to flee, eventually. I’m just doing it on my terms. You know, before the townspeople burn down our manor, because we’re a family of monsters?”

She took advantage of her parents shock to stomp past them, to her own bedchambers. She followed her brother’s lead, packing her favorite frocks and jewels to take with her. She’d been bored with their manor and their village for years, long before the family was turned, dreaming of a life of adventure. Now, she would have the life she’d longed for. All desires she’d ever have, she decided, she would succumb to. She wanted romance and danger, and, by God, she’d have it. 

Neither of the Rose children saw their first home again before it burned to the ground. By the time it was nothing but embers, they were all long gone. With no reason to return, and with so much more to see than what they’d already known, their family lands changed as much as the surrounding world did. When the family finally did return to the lands that were once theirs, it was completely unrecognizable; they didn’t even realize that they walked over their own grave.

-

Patrick knows David likes his sleep, especially at this time. The sun is just peeking up over the horizon, and the morning birds are starting to blink awake. Despite being a vampire, and not actually needing to sleep, it seems to be a favorite pastime of Patrick’s husband’s. When he approaches his house after hunting with Alexis, Patrick can hear David’s soft snore in their bedroom, and it forces a smile onto his face. 

He’s quiet as he enters the house, not wanting to disturb David, even if all he really wants to do is jump in bed and make up for the four days they weren’t together. He can’t really remember the last time he and David were apart so long; his human memories are already so hazy. He stops at the doorway of their bedroom, floored by the sight of his husband in their bed. He takes a moment to relish in the sight of coming home to this, then forces himself to their en-suite bathroom.

He takes a quick shower, knowing David wouldn’t appreciate this particular hunt’s worth of grime in their bed. When he shuts off the shower, David’s snores are no longer carrying. After haphazardly drying off, Patrick exits the bathroom and is treated to the sight of David peeking his head up to smile at Patrick.

“Hi,” David greets, softly, beaming sleepily at Patrick. 

“Hi,” Patrick breathes right back. He quickly crawls into bed beside David, leaning in to kiss him gently. His lips had gone far too long without David’s.

David is quick to kiss his back, a hand sliding over Patrick’s damp shoulder to pull him closer. “I thought you’d be a few more days,” he mumbles against Patrick’s lips, smiling as he does so. Alexis had thought similarly, and was disappointed when Patrick said he was ready to go home. “How was it?”

Patrick smiles into David’s lips and kisses him again. “It was fun,” he says. “Eye-opening. Alexis took me to Kentucky. It was really beautiful there.”

David’s face scrunches in confusion. “Alexis took you to Kentucky?” He repeats, all of those words foreign in this context. 

Patrick chuckles, nodding, his nose brushing along David’s. “They’ve got coal mines,” Patrick explains, which only confuses David more. Why would his sister take Patrick to a mine? “We pretended we were ghosts. I guess miners are superstitious? We hid for two days, and scared the crap out of them. Did you know my fingers are strong enough to let me climb on the ceiling? Not this one, probably, it’s a flat surface. But mine ceilings, totally.”

David rolls his eyes fondly, chuckling in soft surprise. “I’m glad you had fun,” he says, his voice warm and gentle. 

“It would have been more fun with you,” Patrick says. “I missed you.”

“Next time,” David promises with a nod. 

“Every time,” Patrick insists. “It was fun with Alexis, but I only want to go hunting with you.” Patrick hadn’t ever felt comfortable before David, and that continued into his second life. He was fine, hunting with Alexis, but it took him too much time to let go and give into his instincts. It was frustrating, for both himself and Alexis. He knows, with no doubt, that he’d have a better handle on his own vampirism if David were there. He would feel a lot more comfortable to let loose if David were with him.

“What a sap,” David teases him, shaking his head. Patrick falls in love with him, all over, just by looking down at his fond, barely-there smile. He leans down and kisses David softly, and is rewarded with David running his fingers through Patrick’s hair, inching him closer. ”Every time,” he agrees against Patrick’s lips. “Though, we might need to hire a little help at the store in order to swing that. I know someone would be upset at the loss of revenue if we close for a few days every couple of weeks. It’d probably be a little more fiscally responsible.”

Patrick smirks as he kisses David again. “Mm, I love it when you talk dirty to me,” he mumbles into David’s lips. 

David smiles into Patrick. “Yeah?” He murmurs, lips brushing softly, sending shivers down Patrick’s spine. “You gonna crunch some numbers for me, honey?”

Patrick nods, his nose brushing along David’s. “Anything you want,” he promises, then kisses David. 

“Anything?” David teases against Patrick’s lips. “I like the sound of that.” 

“I bet you do,” Patrick chuckles, fondly. He pulls back just enough to look over David’s face, to memorize his features all over again. He brushes a hand through David’s bedhead, smiling down at him. “How was the workshop?”

David huffs and rolls his eyes. “Really?” He deadpans. “That’s what you’d like to do right now? Talk about the calligraphers?”

Patrick grins and shakes his head. “No,” he agrees, leaning down to kiss his husband. 

-

When Frederick Barbarossa arrived in France with his court, David took his place in the far left corner of the room. He was there to advise King Richard on his conquest to the Holy Lands, already having found himself successful in getting the King of France to join the Crusade. He was, perhaps, too successful, noticing the way the two Kings’ eyes would wander over each other, the new softness in Richard’s songs. They were blatant with their romance, especially around David. Watching their love blossom was repulsive to David, but only because he’d hoped for it himself. It was foolish, he was too old to be hopeful that a handsome King would want him for anything more than a good story and a bad idea. The only thing Richard and Philip were more passionate about than each other was their Holy Conquest. 

David didn’t actually care about their conquest. He simply enjoyed instilling a taste of bloodlust in mortals. He also knew his homeland was somewhere near the Holy Sites that Richard hoped to capture. The best way to get home before things got rocky between the two royal lovers was to go along with their idea, and to get every ally they could on their side. And who better to ask than the Holy Roman Emperor? 

He heard them coming, and ducked into the corner. He wasn’t officially in their court, and preferred to be relatively unnoticed. He hoped to change the stories of men, not to be characters within them. He hoped to leave an imprint on history, not an obvious signature. The corners were safe, easy for him to be ignored by the right people. From there, he could watch everything. 

Frederick and his court were as large and ostentatious as David expected. They file in with great fanfare, a squire announcing his entrance with reverence that made David’s eyes roll. David scanned Frederick’s accompaniment, to familiarize himself with anyone who may be of interest. His gaze landed on a familiar face, one that made him freeze. 

At first, he wondered if his eyes were deceiving him. He’d met one other vampire, aside from his family and his late sire, and he’d thought she was his sister at first then, too. This time was different. The longer he looked, the more he was sure. Her stride was the same. Her eyes were still their mother’s, light and clear. Her brow was just as prominent as ever. 

“Alexandra,” he breathed, and her eyes snapped to his corner for the first time in a few hundred years. Her jaw dropped slightly in surprise. He held up a hand, subtly, to wordlessly tell her to not make a scene. Alexandra’s eyes darted over his form before she gave her a soft nod in agreement. 

For the remainder of the procession, David couldn’t really focus. Everything went according to plan, with Frederick agreeing to join the Crusade. Philip instructed his servants to find comfortable lodging for his newest guests before he and Richard retired before supper. As soon as most of the hall was cleared, David emerged from his corner to face his sister. 

Beside her stood one of Barbarossa’s young, handsome sons, every bit Alexandra’s type. Eventually, the prince noticed her attention was elsewhere and followed her gaze to David, just as he bowed softly in acknowledgement. Alexandra curtsied back to her brother, an unreadable look on her face. 

“A former lover of yours, my pet?” The prince asks, an arm wrapping around Alexandra’s middle to hold her closer, in a gross display of masculinity. David winced at the sight in disgust. 

“Ew, no, my prince,” Alexandra giggles, allowing herself to be pulled like some dainty flower in a field. “The fossil you see before you would be my estranged brother.” David narrowed his eyes at her jab. 

The prince’s body went ridged, pulling back from Alexandra to look at her with surprise. “You never told me you have a brother,” he mumbled, clearly confused. 

“That makes sense,” David butted in, taking a few short steps towards them. “My sister wouldn’t find the subject of me terribly important. It’s been a few hundred years since last we saw each other.”

The prince let out a surprised laugh, and David couldn’t help but wonder what it was, exactly, his sister saw in him. He wasn’t resigned to think too much about it. “Your brother turns quite a phrase,” the prince said. 

“Thank you,” David replied, though he’s not sure if that’s a compliment. “My name is David, your Highness, I’m here as council to his Majesty, King Richard.”

“Mm, of course you are,” Alexandra pouted playfully. 

David managed to bite back his glare, instead smiling a ferocious smile at the prince. “My sister and I have some catching up to do,” he said, firmly. “One of the servants will show you to your quarters, your Highness.”

The prince must have had some inkling of sense in him, as he jerkily dislodged his arm from around Alexandra. He bowed his head to her, as she gave a low curtsy in return, before he was escorted away by Philip’s servants. When he left, the hall was left mostly empty. David and his sister were left with a few servants, cleaning up after everyone, giving the siblings odd looks. 

David stepped closer to her, extending his elbow to her. “Walk with me,” he said, in a language he hadn’t spoken in over a century. 

Alexandra smiled at his words, at the familiarity of speaking their mother tongue. She nodded, and joined him, linking her arm through his. He lead her through the main large doors to wander the lands privately, neither beginning a conversation. Once they were outside, and past the stables, away from everyone else, they began to speak.

“What are you doing here?” Alexandra asked, quietly, though she knew that no one was nearby enough to even hear them, nonetheless understand them. Her tone was light, and conversational, almost passive.

David’s face rumpled at her question. “What are you doing here?” He asked right back at her. He might have expected something like this from their parents, but not from her. 

“I asked you first,” she demanded, gently, with an impatient quirk of her eyebrow.

David rolled his eyes. “I’m here to help my friend, the Good King Richard, fulfill a promise he made to his late father,” he shrugged, like the Crusade was nothing. And, truth be told, it wasn’t much more than an excuse to stick around and watch the drama unfold. 

“Well, I’m here because this seemed like a fun way to pass the time, and a free vacation back home,” Alexandra said with a flip of her hair over her shoulder.

David sighed in relief he didn’t know he needed. “Oh, thank God,” he said, his eyes squeezing shut and his head lolling back. “Okay. I was so concerned you’d become a Christian, or something equally awful.”

“Ew, no, David!” Alexandra complained, nudging her brother weakly. “You should know that where bloodshed and handsome men are found, I, too, shall be!”

David lets out a breathless chuckle. “Good to know we still have a few things in common, then,” he said, nudging her back. “Have you seen Mom and Dad?”

Alexandra shrugged. “A few decades ago,” she recalled. “They’re traveling, too. You know how they like to rub elbows with people in power.” She paused. “They said they saw you a century ago. It must have been longer by now. Have you seen them again? Since then?”

“No,” he admitted. “Not since I was in Constantinople. It wasn’t a great interaction, anyway.”

“What do you mean?” Alexandra asked, her face rumpling in confusion. 

“Mom was, predictably, displeased to see me,” David explained in a huff. “She said she didn’t want me making a hunting ground of her home. She didn’t ask me to stay, or even let me explain myself, she was just mad I showed up at all. Dad was trying to get me to come to these parties, but they all were lamer than a three-legged horse, so. Fuck no.”

Alexandra looked like she wanted to smirk at her words, but was far too befuddled to be amused. “Mkay, well that is definitely not what they said,” she said, primly.

David’s brow furrowed. “Well, wh-what did they say? Exactly?” He breathed, his head shaking quickly. 

“Um, just that you totally blew them off when they asked you to meet their friends,” Alexandra filled in. “Which, you know, does sound like you, David. You can’t blame me for believing their side.”

“What, you don’t believe me?” He balked at her. 

“No, no! I do!” She promised quickly. “It all seems totally plausible. I mean, Mom definitely started there with me, but I’m much more effortlessly charming than you, so she let it putter out.”

“I don’t want to talk about what Mom and Dad are doing,” David huffed, shaking his head and quickly changing the subject. His parents were always a difficult topic for David to linger on. “I want to hear about you. That prince, you have him wrapped around your little finger, don’t you?”

Alexandra beamed at the mention of her success. “It’s getting too easy,” she preened, her fingers brushing over the ends of her, an act David hadn’t realized he missed so much. “I mean, the hardest part anymore is leaving, and that was always the easiest part.”

“What, you don’t eat the boys who fall in love with you?” He smirked at his sister. 

“No!” She defended herself, forcefully. “I like the long game.”

“The long game?” David repeated, slowly, not exactly understanding what she meant. 

Alexandra groaned, frustrated that he doesn’t inherently understand. “I come back at the end of their lives,” she explained. “You know. Like a ghost, to remind them of the one thing they could never have.”

“What? You?” David raised a brow at his sister, nearly amused by her antics.

“My secrets,” she said, as mysteriously as she could, but her smile slipped out. David rolled his eyes and gave her a pointed look. “Imagine it.” She waved her free arm before them. “He’s all withered and old, contemplating his life and his regrets. He remembers his youth, and the beautiful, exotic lover he took, wondering whatever happened to her. Just as he feels his heart slowing, I walk in, exactly the way he remembers. He thinks, this can’t be real, that I’m not really there, but I am. I take his hand, and his heart races. It’s too old and feeble to be pounding so hard. The last thing he sees is me. I love that.”

“How was I ever considered to be the dramatic one?” David asked, rhetorically. “So you eat them when they’re old? I haven’t eaten an old person before. Is it like wine?”

“Ew, stop, I don’t eat them!” Alexandra complained, tapping on David’s arm urgently. 

His eyes glanced over her slight form. She should be glowing with youth, but her eyes didn’t sparkle the way that should’ve. “It looks like you don’t eat at all,” he commented. “You’re looking a little dry, Alexandra.” She glared at him. “When was the last time you fed?” She sighed and looked away from him, out to the darkened path before them. “Um, I wasn’t actually asking that question just to hear myself talk. When did you last feed?”

“I don’t know,” she shrugged, not meeting his eyes. She fiddled with the ends of her hair nervously. “A while, I suppose.”

“You can’t keep the company of humans if you don’t feed, Alexandra,” David scolded her. “Not unless you like to make a habit of accidental murder.”

“What are you, my father?” Alexandra taunted, defensively. 

“Okay, fine then,” David shrugged. “Live your best life. If that includes starving yourself like some peasant, then so be it. But don’t come crying to me when you’re so crusted, you can’t move.”

Alexandra groaned in frustration. “It’s hard for me to get away,” she tried to explain, but David wasn’t interested in hearing her excuses. 

“You’re away now,” he said, easily. 

She jerked her head to look at him, surprise marking her features. “Now?” She gaped. 

David shrugged. “Why not now?” He asked. “Unless you’re afraid you can’t keep up?”

Alexandra took a wicked grin to her face, her eyes dancing in the night. “Like a game?” She requests, her shoulders lifting with a curious excitement. 

David missed his sister. It sparks up inside him, something he’d forgotten so long ago. She was always the most fun he had. A game sounds fun, it sounds like a bit of childhood that David forgot about. Besides, his sister’s competitive nature was the perfect way to appeal to her thirst. “Whoever has the most bodies dropped by sunrise wins,” he announced. 

Alexandra’s eyebrows wiggled, her shoulders bounced in an excited dance. “You’re on,” she agreed with a poke to his bicep, then she took off running. David shook his head, chuckling to himself, but took off after her. No, he wasn’t particularly thirsty, but he could never resist a good game.

  
-

  
Having sold her grandmother’s goat farm, Heather’s granddaughter, Olivia, purchased all three locations of Rose Apothecary from David and Patrick. She’d been managing their location in Elm Grove for quite a few years before she made the offer. It was a really great offer, one the numbers half of their operation really couldn’t argue with. 

They were the last two of their family in their little town. Moira left as soon as she was physically able, and Johnny wasn’t far behind. He’s still a partner at the motel all these years later, and still visits, from time to time. Expectedly, Moira never returned to Schitt’s Creek after she left, but she never really returned to many places in the past. Alexis left, too, with Ted, to save the animals of the world, one endangered species at a time. Patrick thinks it’s a noble cause. The town is different now, and not just because of the loss of the Rose family. 

Patrick watched as children grew into adults, and have children, and watched as those children grew up, too. The friends Patrick kept in his human life were withered, or already gone. His parents were gone long ago, having never asked why their son and son-in-law never felt the effects of time. The only connection Patrick has anymore to his human life was David and their stores, and they sold their stores to Olivia. 

Now, Patrick stands in the house he’s lived in for the better part of six decades. It’s empty; everything was sold, given away, tossed out, or in storage. The house hasn’t sold yet, but it will, eventually, and, truthfully, neither Patrick nor David are terribly worried about it. It’s strange, to see the house he loved completely bare. He isn’t sad about leaving; sixty years is a very long time to live somewhere. He accumulated a lot of fond memories in this house, but he’s okay with letting go. The most important part of the wonderful memories he’s made is David, who vowed, many years ago, to stay with Patrick forever. 

Just as he’s being thought of, David comes up behind Patrick and wraps his arms around him slowly. Patrick melts into his arms, letting out a soft, contented sigh when he feels David’s lips brush at his jaw. His hands grasp David’s arms to keep him there. 

“Are you ready?” David mumbles into Patrick’s ear, not more than a whisper. Patrick can hear David’s smile, anyway, and it makes him smile, too.

“Yeah,” he nods, turning his head and leaning so he can sneak a glance at his husband. “Just taking one last look. A lot of good memories here, you know?”

David pulls back just enough to look at Patrick, smiling even wider as he nods in agreement. “The best of my life,” he agrees. His eyes dart to Patrick’s lips, and his dimples twinge in happiness. “I’ve never stayed anywhere so long. I never wanted to.” He doesn’t need to tell Patrick that they’ve stayed as long as they have because he wanted to recreate his fondest memories, over and over. “This place has been good to us. I’m almost sad to leave. God, who even am I?”

Patrick chuckles, twisting in David’s grasp to press their torsos together. His arms wrap around David’s middle. Even after so long, he still gets a little rush as David’s hands glide up his arms to rest on his shoulders. “You’re getting sentimental in your old age,” he teases, gently. 

“No, I’m getting sentimental in yours,” David grins back. “I could never be old, but you’re really hitting your stride as a geezer.”

“A geezer!” Patrick repeats in amusement. “You know what? You might be right. I think I’m an old man now. And you have no one to blame but yourself. I’m going to live in my bathrobe. Do you think they still make newspapers?”

David smirks, but he tries to repress it as he shakes his head. “Honey, I don’t think anything has been physically printed in over a decade,” he teases. “But the bathrobe idea, I can get behind. You’re finally starting to get it.”

Patrick smiles, and vaguely remembers a matching set of pajamas, one blue and one white, packed away safely in storage. He makes a mental note to buy he and his husband matching robes to lounge in for a while. The future feels good, knowing David will be there. There’s no plan, past the next few weeks of lazing in the sun, which is really no time at all. 

There’s an immediate plan, but nothing past the next few weeks, and Patrick knows by now that the itinerary will fly by. They’re going for a hunt when they leave, a long one, longer than Patrick’s ever taken. After that, they’ll fly to Italy, and eventually, when they tire of it, they’ll move onto Greece and France; David thinks it’s been long enough since he’s been there, they likely won’t run into any unsavory types. Aside from that, there’s no plan. Despite always wanting to plan everything, Patrick doesn’t feel the need to organize their every moment. The last sixty years had to be so tightly scheduled that Patrick is really looking forward to no plans. Eventually, they’ll decide on something definitive, but, for now, Patrick is excited at the prospect of absolutely nothing. 

“I’ve been thinking about where to hunt,” Patrick says, smiling as he detangles himself just enough to pull David towards the door. 

“I expected nothing less,” David grins, following Patrick happily. 

“We don’t go south much,” Patrick suggests with a shrug and a smirk. 

David seems to like the idea of that. “Oh, yeah?” He muses. “How far south are you imagining? Like, Antarctica?”

Patrick snorts, rolling his eyes. “I was imagining New Orleans, maybe,” Patrick suggests. “Maybe the Keys. Havana. Cancún. Rio de Janero. Anywhere you want.”

David’s face softens into something a little softer. He stops just short of the front door, and Patrick stops, too, to look at his husband. David’s hands reach up and toy with the seams on Patrick’s shoulders. “As long as you’re with me, I’m happy, no matter where we go,” he whispers, his eyes dancing around. Even after all these years, David still worries that any little exposure of his feelings will push Patrick away. 

So, instead, Patrick smiles widely at David, his hands finding David’s waist. He pulls David closer, their chests pressing together. “Orlando?” He teases. “New Jersey?” David frowns at Patrick, his eyes flattening with annoyance. “Arizona?”

“Okay, now we’re getting silly,” David huffs, shoving Patrick the last few steps toward the door. 

Patrick chuckles, but takes the hint, grabbing David’s hand as they exit their home together, one last time. “Well, you’re the one who said ‘anywhere’,” Patrick smirks. 

“Actually, I think you’re the one who said that,” David rolls his eyes in deflection. 

Patrick smiles faintly at David, then turns his eyes to the doorway, and their home just through it. Bare of their things, it’s just a shell, a memory of their life together. “Goodbye, house,” Patrick says softly, patting the doorframe gently. “You’ve been good to us.” When he turns back to David, Patrick is met with the softest, fondest look on his husband’s face. 

Without looking again, Patrick closes the door to their home. He tears his eyes from David to lock up, one last time. He shoves the key in his pocket, then looks back to David, a smile on his face. 

  
-

The New World wasn’t actually all that new. The people were all the same as they’d always been, with their fleeting lives and malleable minds. Eternal life had gotten stagnant. David was bored. For over a decade, he sat in his New York penthouse, doing nothing, aside from hunting whenever he got a throat ache. He toyed with no humans, nor sampled luxurious lifestyles. Alexandra, who’d selected a more modern moniker, attempted thrice to rouse him from his gloom before finally throwing him over her shoulder and taking him to be with their parents. 

The four of them hadn’t been together, as a unit, since the night David and Alexis left their first home. David’s relationship with his family had been distant, and very estranged. For the first time in a thousand-odd years, they were all in the same place, under one roof. It was a strange feeling for David. The last time the four of them sat together at a table was the night they were all changed. It only stirred up memories David had only been too happy to forget. His slump wasn’t going to be cured by this particular venue change, and David had known that from his place over his sister’s literal shoulder. 

About a year was spent inside Johnny and Moira Rose’s shining manor. They kindly set David up in a room of his own, and left him to go about his own business. There was no business that needed tending on David’s end. He sat, almost unmoving, contemplating his place in the universe. Needless to say, it was a very dark time for David. Even surrounded by the only people to have known him for over a thousand years, David felt alone. He was coming to the realization that he had always felt alone.

David’s near-comatose state was lifted very briefly, when awful humans came in and took me everything. His mother suggested, very softly, that they eat them, but they all knew that these humans would be missed. Instead, the four of them watched as a thousand years of riches was carted off. Being pulled from his downtrodden reverie gave David just enough sense to pack his most precious items in a trunk, as well as all of the clothing he’d purchased in the ten years previous, all attempts at fleeting moments of happiness. 

At first, the town that was purchased at a joke was the most dreary place the four of them had ever been. But, inch by inch, it grew on them. It wasn’t such a bad place to land and catch their breath. The people in the town were kind. When they found out the Roses were vampires, they didn’t treat the family any differently. It was horrifying, to discover that a podunk town was the first place David ever felt like he could belong.

A new spark flickered in David, one he never felt before. It started at the General Store, when he decided to start a new path for himself. It was the first glimmer of hope David had in centuries, something he could pour his heart into. And, with the store came Patrick, which sparked an entirely different flame. The rumblings inside were almost familiar, at first, but Patrick woke something in David that even his human self had given up on. To Patrick, David was more than a bad idea and an intriguing story. He was more than the expensive clothes and the things he could offer. 

David didn’t notice, at first, the way he counted Patrick’s breaths. When he did, he was sure the way they’d catch in Patrick’s muscular chest must have been in his mind. Patrick was too kind, too full of life, to be interested in David. But that wasn’t true. The experience he’d amassed in a millennia of life couldn’t prepare David for someone like Patrick. 

There’d never been someone like Patrick before. No one had ever offered to celebrate David’s birthday with him. No one had ever presented a sentimental, heartfelt gift before. That’s how he knew that Patrick was special. 

-

Patrick enters their villa just as the sky is cast with a beautiful sunset. Time had been kind to them. Their exploring led them in a world-wide journey, one that left the both of them in awe. Now, they do as they please, living in beautiful, temporary homes as they trot the globe. This beautiful villa they call home is in Bora Bora, a particularly special treat for them. Lately their travels have found the two Roses in creepy, dark European countries. Their stay in a little pocket of paradise is a very nice change of pace. In Patrick’s arms, as he enters the villa, is an enormous pastry box, one he may not have been able to carry himself, were he still human. 

“David?” He calls, softly, as he carefully puts the box down on their kitchen island. 

After a bit of light rustling and a few soft footsteps, David emerges from their bedroom, a warm smile on his face. “Hi,” he breathes, padding over to the kitchen to greet his husband with a smile. 

“I have something for you,” Patrick says, leaning in to kiss David softly. He feels David’s smile against his own, which warms Patrick to his core. He pulls back a bare inch, then opens the box for David. 

Inside the pastry box is a decadent chocolate cake in the shape of a heart, with the words ‘One Hundred Years!’ on the top in red frosting. David gasps in delight at the cake, predictably, his jaw dropping open in a joyous smile. “Happy birthday,” Patrick sighs, still smiling at the sight of his husband looking down at the cake. 

“Happy anniversary,” David murmurs his correction, looking back up to Patrick with shining eyes. “Has it really been a hundred years?”

Patrick snorts. “What, you’re not keeping track?” He teases, his nose wrinkling. 

“Um, no, I have a numbers guy for that,” David grins right back, his hands finding Patrick’s shoulders. 

Patrick leans in and kisses David. David’s hand reaches up and brushes Patrick’s cheek gently. It reminds Patrick of a hundred years ago, on the first night they kissed. That night, he could’ve never expected this would be the end result. Not in his wildest fantasies had he expected to be enjoying the sunset with his husband, exactly a hundred years in the future. 

When he pulls back and blinks his eyes open, he gets lost in the shine of David’s eyes. “Thank you,” he whispers. 

David smiles, fondly, then shakes his head. “For what?” He questions, knowingly.

Patrick chuckles softly. “For everything,” he sighs, wistfully. “For forever. I could never repay you for everything. But, uh. Hopefully a hundred year cake is a semi-decent place to start.”

David rolls his eyes and looks down at the cake, clearly collecting his thoughts. “About a hundred and one years ago, I was really lonely,” he admits, quietly. It’s nothing Patrick doesn’t already know. “I honestly wasn’t sure if I had another century in me. And then I met you.” He stops and looks up to meet Patrick’s eyes. “And everything changed. I listened to literally every love song and read so many love poems, but I was sure it had to be a lie. No one could ever feel that way. Not about me. And then you came along, and I felt things-. Things I didn’t know were possible for me. So. You have nothing to repay me for. This is all very selfish.”

Patrick chuckles, giving his precious husband a fond, watery smile. “Good thing we’re on the same team, then,” he nods. Anything selfish David does anymore is for both of them. His selfish behavior usually benefits Patrick, because David never thinks of just himself anymore. They’re a team, a unit. Patrick loves that.

David rolls his eyes. “Sports metaphors,” he shudders, but Patrick can see his grin peeking out through the corner of his mouth. 

“Hey, they’ve worked for me so far,” Patrick teases him, wrapping his arms around David’s middle. “I scored big time. I’m in the big leagues now.”

“Those words mean absolutely nothing to me,” David huffs, indignantly, but they both know that’s not true. A hundred years together blended their hobbies a bit; David knows as much about sports as Patrick knows about designer clothing by now.

“Mhmm,” Patrick nods, his eyes falling to David’s lips before he kisses them gently. David’s arms wrap around Patrick’s shoulders, holding them close. This is home to Patrick. He’s traveled the places he never thought he’d go, and done things that the feeble human mind he left behind could never fathom. It never matters where he goes, so long as David is with him. 

Eventually, David pulls away with a backwards tilt of his head, like he has something a little painful he needs to let loose. “I-, may have gotten you something, as well,” he stutters, his eyes squeezed shut, like he’ll escape this conversation that he brought up. 

“Oh, did you?” Patrick grins, his grasp on David’s middle tightening. 

David gives a stunted nod before opening his eyes and dislodging himself from Patrick’s arms. He holds up a finger before dashing into the bedroom. Patrick smirks to himself, a flush of warmth coursing through him. David got Patrick a present on his own birthday. If nothing else, this is proof that David loves him. 

David emerges from their bedroom, his arms behind his back, hiding whatever the gift may be. His lips are tucked between his teeth, attempting to hide a wide grin, like Patrick can’t see his dimples. With a shimmy of his shoulders, David pulls his gift from behind his back, revealing a toilet plunger with a bow tied perfectly on the handle. 

The memory of the toilet plunger is hazy with time, but it’s still clearer than most of Patrick’s human memories. He doesn’t remember why it had been such a big deal, only that it’d ended with David saying that Patrick was his boyfriend. Of course, now, their marriage is nearly a century old, and boyfriends is old news, but Patrick can’t help but be reminded of the young man who never thought he’d have a boyfriend. 

“You got me a plunger,” Patrick coos, fondly, happy to be remembered. 

David rolls his eyes and holds it out to Patrick. “You can even put it by the door,” he sighs as Patrick accepts his gift. That detail is not something Patrick explicitly remembers, but it does sound on-brand for him. 

“Thank you, David,” Patrick beams, his voice low and soft. “Thank you.”

David nods in agreement. “Mhmm,” he deflects. “Can we eat the cake now?”

Patrick chuckles, but agrees easily, putting his shiny, new plunger down to grab forks for the both of them. He cuts a bite off of the side, mostly ganache frosting, and holds it up to his husband’s lips. “To the next hundred years,” he promises. 

David takes the bite, almost hesitantly. “You’re not gonna get sick to death of me?” He asks, muffled around the cake in his mouth. 

Patrick beams at David and shakes his head. “Never.”


End file.
